Mimic
by iTravel
Summary: “I killed my entire clan, Sakura-san, does that not frighten you?” She laughed softly. "No. Not when I killed an entire village." —ItachiSakura


Note: December 3rd, 2008.

_Hey guys._

_I've been getting some—er—less than pleasant messages from people saying that they want me to continue. This was honestly just supposed to be a one-shot! I'm not saying that something won't come to me in the future—and if it does, I'll maybe write some more when my stories are finished, but for now, this is all you're getting._

_Sorry!_

_-Holy_

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**Because we all know that ItaSaku is a hott pairing.**

**I don't own Naruto. Enjoy!**

**OOOOO**

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"_Hokage-sama! ANBU have reported an enemy sighting—"_

"_They're everywhere! How could we not have—?"_

"_Sakura!"_

"_Get the civilians to the caves!"_

"_SAKURA!"_

"_Why aren't you doing anything? Move!"_

"_Sakura! Help them!"_

"_MOVE!"_

"..._It doesn't matter now. They're all dead."_

"_All of them."_

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"_A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer."_

_-Ralph Waldo Emerson_

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_Mimic_

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The sound of ice cubes hitting glass made its way to Sakura's ears as she brought the liquid to her lips. It burned her throat, but after eight glasses, it no longer bothered her.

She was sitting on a stool in—where was she again?—some dark, smelly bar, trying to forget about all the lives that were lost because of her.

She lowered the glass to the bar with a _clink!_ and ignored the wave of nausea that rolled over her.

All those people…

_Dead._

There was a chiming sound that signaled the door to the bar had been opened. A rush of cool air filled the stuffy room, and Sakura welcomed the breeze gratefully.

"Another bottle of sake, please." She called to the bartender, the slurring of her words audible to even her own ears.

An older man with graying hair regarded her warily before grabbing a bottle off a shelf behind him.

"This is your fourth bottle Miss," he said as he set the bottle in front of her, "perhaps it's best to go home…?"

Sakura snorted. Go home? Where was home, exactly?

"I'm sure no one in Konoha misses me. Just keep 'em coming." She said, not meeting his eye. She heard him sigh, but his footsteps told her that he moved down the bar.

"It is unwise to tell strangers of your village affiliation." She heard a voice from the stool beside her, the smooth tenor signaling it came from a male.

Sakura laughed, bringing the glass to her lips and drowning the contents.

"I don't have one anymore." She said, licking her lips.

There was a pause in which a rustle of fabric told her the man next to her was looking in her direction.

"You are a missing-nin?" He asked, and his voice triggered some sort of familiarity inside her.

"…You could say that. But not by choice."

The man didn't press the subject, but Sakura spoke anyway.

"I failed my mission."

"Aa."

The pang familiarity struck deeper with his answer, and she dared a glance at the man.

He had a black cloak on, with a collar that covered half his face. From what she could see of his hair in the dark lighting, it was black as night, longer, and probably tied. His skin was pale, a color she had only seen once before in her life. It reminded her of someone, but she couldn't think of who…

And then he looked at her.

Eyes widening, she would have fallen off her stool had his hand not grabbed her arm.

"Holy fuck—" She half shouted at the sight of his bright red Sharingan.

He pulled her so close that she could smell the scent of the forest on him. "It would be wise," he began in a whisper, "to not cause a scene."

Ignoring the way his breath tingled the skin on her shoulder, she swallowed and nodded.

He let go of her arm, and she blamed the alcohol for the ridiculous feeling of wanting nothing more than to move closer to him to try and feel some of his warmth.

She was still frozen in her seat, staring at _him_, now clearly being able to see all the similarities between him and his brother.

"Ita—" She began, but was silenced with a glare. "I just—I was just surprised that—why are you here?" She finished lamely.

"Tea, please." He said to the bartender who had come over to take his order. With a nod, the man walked away, and Itachi turned to her. He did not answer, so she assumed he was in the village for a mission—unwilling to state his purpose out loud.

The bartender came back over and settled a steaming pot of tea in front of them along with a small porcelain cup.

Itachi nodded his thanks.

Sakura's eyes had yet to leave his face, and her mind racing as she tried to decide her next course of action. On one hand, she should be terrified of him, and wanting to dart for the door. She should be mad that he ruined Sasuke's life, and angry that he was after her best friend.

But on the other hand, there was a part of her that sympathized with him. One thing that Sasuke never did was question Itachi's actions. Did Sasuke never stop to think about _why _Itachi never killed him when he had every opportunity? Why leave him alive? Sasuke's current state of living made her wonder what exactly happened that night—or what exactly happened in the thirteen years of Itachi's life that led up to that point.

What the fuck had happened to him?

There was also the small (_absurd_) feeling of security she felt knowing that they were from the same village—knowing they had grown up in the same place and were familiar with the same people.

…And there was also the fact that they had killed countless amounts of people.

"I would think it would scare you, but you do not seem frightened." He said, monotone, as if he were reading her mind.

She watched him bring the tea to his lips. "…Scare me? …What would?"

He lowered the cup to the countertop. "I killed my entire clan, Sakura-san, does that not frighten you?" His gaze was unwavering, as though he was giving her a test.

He didn't expect her to laugh.

She shrugged. "...No." Her eyes glistened as she poured herself another cup of sake. "Not when I killed an entire village."

Itachi's eyes widened for a moment before he caught himself. She killed an entire village? Why didn't he hear of such a thing?

He ignored his urge to ask her what had happened, after all, it wasn't his nature to be curious… But there was something about her eyes that made him slightly uncomfortable.

They looked glazed over, dead.

Ah. So she didn't kill them on purpose.

"Don't be foolish," he said almost sighing, "You said you 'failed a mission' and killed your 'entire village'. So your mission was to keep the village alive, correct?"

His only answer was the way she closed her eyes as her bottom lip twitched slightly.

"It is useless to feel guilty when obviously you cannot be held responsible for every villager." He finished, clamping his mouth shut before he could continue. Why was he talking to her? He shouldn't have responded.

Why was he still sitting here?

"Tsunade-sama was killed." She said softly when she opened her eyes again, and Itachi couldn't figure out how she managed to look so pained, and so beautiful at the same time. "And as the next best medic in the village, it was my duty to save them."

"Do not make the mistake of thinking you are that powerful." He didn't mean for his words to sound so spiteful, but he wasn't going to tell her that. If she was affected by simple words, then she didn't deserve the title of kunoic—

"I don't think even _you _are that powerful, shinobi-san." And there was a peculiar smile on her face as she looked at him sideways—a grin, perhaps.

And he couldn't believe he was actually fighting a smirk that dared to appear on his face.

"Hn." He answered with his usual safe grunt, bringing the hot tea to his lips. And for the life of him, he couldn't understand why he didn't feel the need to tell her that _yes_, he was that powerful. Because for some reason, telling her didn't seem necessary.

"How do you know my name?" She asked a long while later, slurring slightly. Itachi thought about how to phrase his answer, and not for the first time he settled with a half-truth, hoping she was too drunk to press the matter further.

"I know everything about my brother."

He watched as her eyes travelled over his face, and he guessed that she was looking for similarities between the brothers. He didn't ask her what she was thinking—not that he wanted to know, anyway—but she apparently found whatever she was looking for when her gaze softened and a rueful smile graced her lips.

"Of course you do." She said softly, and for a moment, Itachi thought she was going to hold his hand. Instead, she settled for running her fingers softly over the back of his left hand before grasping her cup as she downed another shot.

Itachi watched her every movement, wondering why he desperately wanted her to clarify that statement. He would never ask her, but his suspicion that she might be aware of the truth disconcerted him more than he was comfortable with.

They had been together for maybe an hour and she was drunk, so how could she read him so easily?

"Are you still going after Naruto?" She asked, not meeting his eye.

He regarded her for a few seconds, wondering whether to tell her the truth. There wasn't much harm to be done, being that she no longer belonged to a village. And on top of the fact that she would probably not remember this encounter, there was probably only one person she would tell.

"I never was." He said truthfully, his tone not betraying anything.

Her head snapped to him, and he saw the shock written clearly on her face.

"What? You never—what do you mean?"

But all he did was give her a cool look and did not answer. After all, he did not like to repeat things.

"Any more tea, sir?" The bartender asked suddenly, but Itachi and Sakura did not break eye contact.

"No." Itachi muttered, and the old man walked away.

"Can I come with you?" She whispered, looking slightly nervous for his answer.

He looked at her for a long time, his red eyes traveling from her face to her hair and back again, and Sakura briefly wondered if he was memorizing her features.

"…No."

Itachi caught the sigh she tried to hide when her gaze dropped to the floor, and he ignored the sudden urge to say yes. Akatsuki was no place for this girl, someone who did not possess an evil heart.

After setting some coins on the bar, he stood from his seat, began buttoning his cloak and made his way to the door.

"I know you were lying." She said firmly from behind him, and he knew she was stalling. When he looked back at her, her glass was raised to her lips, and she was starting straight ahead. It was almost like she was thinking aloud.

The rational part of him told him to keep walking. That's what he _should_ have done. But as the last two hours attested to, she caused him to do things that were out of character.

So he walked back over.

"Excuse me?" He asked, his voice holding a tint of warning.

"About Sasuke," she said, and turned to look at him. "You've been lying to him all these years, haven't you?" There was a look in her eye that told him she already had her mind made up. But there was something else on her face that Itachi recognized: desperation. She needed to understand.

"I saw no other way," was all he said, and she knew he would not elaborate. She'd have to make of it what she would, and for some reason, a pang of sadness hit her chest so hard, it hurt.

She hurt for him, because she knew there was a big part of Itachi's life that he kept hidden. He would never let anyone close enough to discover his lie, but after two hours of sitting with him, she began to piece together the truth.

Itachi was lying.

"He would never believe you." He said, his voice menacing to try and scare her into keeping her mouth shut.

But she just smiled. "I would never tell him." She propped her head up on her hand, looking at him intensely. "He deserves whatever comes next. He's made his choices, and now he must live with the consequences."

Itachi didn't know how long he looked into her eyes, not willing to admit that he didn't know what to say to that.

But as usual, she filled the silence with another one of her questions. "Are you returning to your—er—home?"

"Not tonight," he said truthfully, knowing there was no point in returning to the base at such a late hour.

"Oh," she said, sounding irritatingly rejected.

Her tone made him pause.

If he told her the real reason why he was here, it would give her some sort of hope that his actions meant more than they did. If he told her that the reason why he was in the bar was because he detected her familiar chakra, she would think that he was trying to use her for something.

But maybe he _was_ trying to use her for his own gains. Maybe he followed her signature because he wanted someone to figure out the truth about Sasuke. Maybe he came because he knew he could trust her with the truth about Naruto. Maybe he wanted to use her to—maybe... he just wanted company.

...No, that was impossible.

He looked up at her to see her eyes shining with unshed tears, and somehow, Itachi knew that the tears weren't from his rejection—they were due to her fatigue. She still hadn't gotten over the deaths of the villagers, she probably felt relieved and scared for Naruto, sad for Itachi, and mad at Sasuke all at the same time.

And although he wanted to tell her that her emotions made her weak, that if she could become unfeeling she wouldn't be in this predicatment right now, Itachi closed his mouth when he realized that it was possible that maybe... maybe she just needed some company too.

"Come." Was all he said as he turned back around. Sakura blinked slowly and bit her lip to keep from smiling, knowing it would annoy him if he saw it.

Putting some money down, she jumped off the stool. And as the two of them made their way out the door, a fresh breeze of autumn came rushing in, clearing out some of the stale air that hovered above the patrons, giving them clean air to breath.

**OOOOO**

**Yes, that's where it ends…**

**Until next time!**


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